| Introduction | vii |
| Descartes: Life and Times | vii |
| Principle of Selection for the Volume | xvii |
| A Bibliographical Note on Descartes's Main Works | xx |
| Selected Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Sources | xxii |
| Acknowledgments | xxiii |
| Brief Chronology of Descartes's Life and Works | xxiv |
| I. | Early Works and Correspondence (to 1637) | 1 |
| Preliminaries and Observations (1619) | 1 |
| Rules for the Direction of the Mind (1618?-1628?) | 2 |
| To Mersenne, On the Eternal Truths (April 15, May 6, and May 27, 1630) | 28 |
| The World or Treatise on Light [and Man] (1632) | 30 |
| To Mersenne, About Galileo's Condemnation (April 1634) | 43 |
| II. | Discourse on Method (1637) | 46 |
| III. | Correspondence (1637-1641) | 83 |
| To Silhon, Existence of God and of the Soul (March 1637) | 83 |
| To Plempius for Fromondus, Atomism and Mechanism (October 3, 1637) | 84 |
| To Vatier, On the Discourse (February 22, 1638) | 86 |
| To Regius, Knowledge of the Infinite (May 24, 1640) | 89 |
| To Colvius, On Augustine and the Cogito (November 14, 1640) | 90 |
| To Mersenne, Immortality of the Soul (December 24, 1640) | 91 |
| To Mersenne, The Aim of the Meditations and the Context for the Principles (December 31, 1640) | 94 |
| To Mersenne, On J.-B. Morin's Proof for the Existence of God (January 28, 1641) | 95 |
| IV. | Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) | 97 |
| Letter of Dedication | 97 |
| Preface to the Reader | 100 |
| Synopsis of the Meditations | 102 |
| Meditation 1 | Concerning Those Things That Can Be Called into Doubt | 104 |
| Meditation 2 | Concerning the Nature of the Human Mind: That It Is Better Known Than the Body | 107 |
| Meditation 3 | Concerning God, That He Exists | 113 |
| Meditation 4 | Concerning the True and the False | 122 |
| Meditation 5 | Concerning the Essence of Material Things, and Again Concerning God, That He Exists | 127 |
| Meditation 6 | Concerning the Existence of Material Things, and the Real Distinction between Mind and Body | 132 |
| V. | Objections by Some Learned Men to the Preceding Meditations, with Replies by the Author (1641) | 142 |
| First Set of Objections | 142 |
| Reply by the Author to the First Set of Objections | 149 |
| Reply to the Second Set of Objections | 159 |
| Third Set of Objections, by a Famous English Philosopher, with the Author's Replies | 167 |
| Fourth Set of Objections, by Antoine Arnauld, Doctor of Theology | 177 |
| Reply to the Fourth Set of Objections | 182 |
| Sixth Set of Objections | 190 |
| Reply to the Sixth Set of Objections | 194 |
| VI. | Correspondence (1641-1644) | 207 |
| To Mersenne, Idea Defined and Discussed (July 1641) | 207 |
| To Gibieuf, Ideas and Abstraction (January 19, 1642) | 209 |
| To Buitendijck, Possibility of Doubting God's Existence (1643) | 212 |
| To Elisabeth, Primitive Notions (May 21 and June 28, 1643) | 213 |
| To Mesland, On Freedom (May 2, 1644) | 216 |
| VII. | Principles of Philosophy (1644-1647) | 222 |
| VIII. | Late Works and Correspondence (1645 On) | 273 |
| To Mesland, On Freedom (February 9, 1645) | 273 |
| To Clerselier, Concerning Principles (June or July 1646) | 274 |
| To the Marquis of Newcastle, About Animals (November 23, 1646) | 275 |
| To Chanut, On Nicholas Cusa and the Infinite (June 6, 1647) | 277 |
| Notes Against a Program (1648) | 281 |
| To More, Replies to Objections (February 5, 1649) | 292 |
| The Passions of the Soul (1649) | 297 |
| The Search After Truth by the Light of Nature (1641?-1649?) | 315 |
| Index | 325 |
